Chapter 2

Adrian Sterling made no effort to hide his disgust for me.

“Stop playing such cheap tricks. They only make you look more disgusting.”

His steps showed no hesitation as he left and went to Noah Vale’s ward.

I dragged this body that felt like it was about to fall apart to my feet and slowly left while holding on to the wall.

I had expected this outcome long ago.

In the years after I returned home, I had resisted and argued countless times.

I tried to make Adrian Sterling and Marcus Hale know Noah Vale’s true colors.

I tried to find the old versions of them again.

But I failed, over and over again.

What I received from beginning to end was only humiliation.

The way they looked at me grew colder and darker, and their rejection of me became more obvious.

They indulged Noah Vale as he threw his weight around.

Noah Vale was spoiled to the extreme, so it was common for him to bully me.

No one stood up for me, and I had gotten used to it long ago.

After finally crawling back to my old rented room, I squeezed myself and the blanket onto the cramped little bed.

It was too cold, and the chill was like needles embedded in the cracks of my bones.

Dense stabbing pain came from my stomach, and I propped myself up before vomiting blood all over the floor.

I fainted from the pain and hung there by the edge of the bed, barely staying up.

When I woke up again, my phone had already been bombarded by messages and calls from Adrian Sterling.

The first thing I saw was his questioning. [The moment we mention donating a kidney to Noah, you disappear. Is this fun for you? You really are a cold-blooded monster. No matter where you hide, I’ll drag you out.]

[Your kidney belongs to Noah.]

It was Noah Vale’s trick again, and whatever he wanted, Adrian Sterling would offer up with both hands.

Soon, this precious Mr. Vale lowered himself to call me.

He openly admitted that nothing was wrong with him at all, and he only wanted to see how pathetic a stray dog like me could get.

I listened in silence as his tone went from smug to furious from embarrassment.

“Julian Hale, speak!” Noah Vale ordered loudly. “Who gave you the nerve to ignore me? Why are you ignoring me? Why are you pretending you can’t hear me?”

Too noisy.

I hung up tiredly and lay down properly, and the violent twisting pain had already subsided.

While they were trying to catch me, I was only lying here and barely clinging to life.

Look, if they cared even a little, how could they not know where I lived?

I never expected that the first person to break down my door would be him.

Noah Vale.

He arrived not long after I hung up on him.